Mythical Kingdom

Alexis is a half vampire half Lichen and is the princess of a kingdom full of vampires and Lichens. Her parents have sent her to live among the people she will one day rule so she can get to know what they are like and what they need.
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Chapters:

With the days being shorter and the nights being longer I get to
stay up so much later now. The sun coming up meant it was time
for me to be inside with the windows shut and sleeping in my king
sized bed. I loved staying up longer and hanging out with my
friends more, we had so much fun. Of course most of my friends
stayed to busy talking about all the girls they thought were hot
because all my friends were the guys. Too many girls always tried
starting something but I was fine with the guys even if they
teased me and called me cute.

"Alexis are you ok, you seem off in Lala land over there." Andy
asked me from across the table.

Anthony rolled his eyes and looked away; he had always been the
one in the group that went his own way. The guys all followed me
except for him. When we were in wolf form he always had to be the
pack leader and I was happy for that, the thought of having guys
follow me all the time drove me insane. Everyone looked up to
Anthony for advice on everything.

Before I was in the group everyone did everything Anthony said
all the time, they still pretty much did but they looked to me
for a second opinion because I knew the laws and knew how to not
get caught. It was all the perks to being the princess of our
society, nothing was looked at as normal around me even though
all the girls still hated me and acted violent towards me but
that's because my identity was a secret from them.

"Boys your parents are looking for you. It's best to go before
everyone figures out that Alexis is really our princess." Anthony
said to them while still looking at the table we were at.
Andy and Ethan still looked to me for a confirmation so I simply
nodded my head and smiled at them. They got up and walked off
leaving Anthony and me alone where we were. I cast a sideways
glance at Anthony and to my surprise he was looking at me with
sorrowful eyes.

"Are you ok?" I asked Anthony.

"Yeah, just have a lot on my mind I'm sorry." he replied

"Don't apologize for it." I giggled at his apology.

"Are you sure princess?" he glanced back at me.

"Don't call me princess I don't want everyone to know who I
really am." I whispered to him.

"It is your nickname from me though, I can stop if you want me to
though." he seemed upset about my dislike to it.

"No, I don't want you to stop. I just forgot that's all, I'm not
used to being out of the walls." I couldn't take my eyes off of
him.

"Are you sure about that?" he now stared in my eyes.

I just nodded and watched the small smirk appear on his face. He
was one of the few guys that my parents trusted with me. If
anyone had ever tried to hurt me he was always there to protect
me. The boys and he would never tell my secret about being
royalty. They felt overprotective when a guy would come up and
start to hit on me, almost as if I was dating them instead of
being single.

"Alexis, are you ok?" Anthony said bringing me away from my
thoughts and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"I'm ok; I guess I just got lost in my thoughts." I replied with
a simple smile and slight blush.

"You seemed a million light years away. Um, Alexis I've been
thinking here lately to." He seemed a little nervous.

"Oh really, what about?" I got curious.

"Well, there's this girl that I really like." He wasn't even
looking at me anymore but his arm tightened around me, "There is
this girl I like but I'm not sure how to tell her, she is great
but I'm scared she'll turn me down."

"Um, we're back now."Andy said quietly.

I looked around and shivered as Ethan and Andy sat on either side
of me, separating Anthony and me. Andy put his coat over my
shoulders and then looked to stare daggers into Anthony as the
warmth of his coat came over me. I glanced up at Andy and then
laid my head down on the table.

Ethan placed his arm around me and rubbed my arms to help warm me
up. I heard whispers coming from beside me and glanced back up at
Andy and Anthony. Andy didn't seem pleased that Anthony was going
to tell me his personal life. A tear fell from my eye
unwillingly. I never wanted to cry but now I had friends fighting
because of me. I stood up and walked off.

The only place left to go was to the top of the tower on the
outskirts of town, it was my secret place. Getting to the tower
was no problem nor was climbing to the top; it was making sure I
wasn't being followed that was the problem. I was crying while
running away from the table and everyone around there but I
didn't really care, I just had to get away. As I was running
through the woods Andy's coat got brushed off my shoulders by a
tree branch so I left it on the ground to pick it up whenever I
came back through.Then rain started pouring down just as I
spotted the tower.

No footsteps were heard as I reached the tower and entered to go
to the top. I gently closed the door behind me and turned to the
steep steps that lined the wall. I started up the steps and tears
still ran down my cheeks unwillingly, I hated crying like that
but I was so hurt about what had happened. Andy had no reason to
reprimand Anthony the way he did; it was my fault that everything
happened.

I finally reached the top of the tower and ran into the room
closing the door to the room behind me as well. My legs barely
carried me to the window seat before collapsing from the tiring
run and climb to get there. All I could think about though was
the fact that the boys were fighting because of me. Maybe my
older sister was right, guys just want trouble and I could forget
about all of them.

I then heard the door behind me open up and I figured it was the
winds blowing it open again so I turned around; in the doorway
stood a tall guy with black hair. He had light blue eyes and was
also really pale. He was in blue jeans and a light gray t-shirt.
He had on tennis shoes and he was also in a royal blue hoody.

The look in his eyes seemed like they were staring straight into
my soul when I barely glanced in them. I froze solid and it
seemed like I was frozen in time. Nothing could have broken the
effect his gaze had on me, not even the thunder outside. He
wouldn't break the gaze and I couldn't. It was like he was
staring in my soul and seeing everything I ever saw. Something
just seemed really different about him; I liked him a lot and yet
didn't even know his name or anything about him.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he said in an angelic
voice that almost knocked me off my feet.

"I could say the same thing." I replied after taking time to
gather the thoughts that were scrambled in my mind.

"I'm Bradley, I just moved in not too far from here and when I
came here before no one was here." he said.

"Well, I'm Alexis and I've lived here my whole life. I always
come here when I need to think and get away from everyone and
everything." I said and got the strength to look out the window.

"I'm sorry Alexis, I didn't mean to disturb you but do you mind
if I stay here with you for a little while?" he asked in a quiet
voice that seemed more of a whisper.

"I don't mind at all, maybe a little bit of company from a
stranger won't be so bad." I looked back at him.

He walked in and sat down on the pillow I had brought up here for
when I just wanted to lay down and cry my heart out. I glanced
back out the window as the rain fell even harder, something told
me this stranger was needing an escape more than I was. The look
of sadness in his face was one that could only be placed on such
a beautiful face by something really bad happening.

"Alexis, why are you staring at me like that?" he asked.

"I'm sorry I'm just trying to figure you out, that's all." I
replied quickly and wished I could pull my eyes away.

"You can ask me anything you want, I'll answer honestly and tell
you anything you want to know." he looked at the ground.

"Why did you move here?" I blurted out before I could think.

"My dad felt it was the right thing to do, he lived here as a kid
and said he liked it better being close to the royal family that
we are dedicated to protect." he sounded upset about it.

"Do you not like the royal family or something?" the question
fell and fear raised in me.

"No, they are all I hear about. At my old school it was all about
how the royal family and their importance to us and what we
should do, I don't see why it matters if I protect them or not."
he seemed upset and I hated that my family was the cause.

"I'm sorry." was all I could manage to mutter.

"Why are you sorry?" he looked at me like I was stupid.

"I'm the princess and I've caused you pain and you don't like me,
I've failed you and possibly more. Bradley, I never meant to be a
burden on you or family or anyone, please forgive me." I looked
at the ground while talking because more tears fell down my face.

Bradley stood in a hurry and bowed. "My princess, I am sorry it
is my fault. I never meant to offend you, please princess forgive
me." he said.

"Stop bowing, I'm undercover. No one at school knows who I am so
you must keep my secret please. I can't be known as the princess
and I shouldn't have told you." I was scared he would tell.

"I can do that, I will be at school tomorrow but will you please
show me around?" he asked with a smirk and stood up.

"That I can do." I smiled back.

***

"Hey, let me see your schedule." I said to Bradley as he walked
into school.

He handed me the little piece of paper that had his schedule on
it and I looked down the list at all of his classes. Of course
only the school would do this for me and all I had to do was pull
a few strings and I could get what I wanted. I had asked them to
give Bradley all classes with me so that I could show him around
and be his guide and sure enough his classes were the same as
mine.

"This is great; we have all the same classes so you can hang out
with me." I said smiling at him.

"That is perfect, now I can get to know more about you since you
know all about me now." he took back his schedule.

"Yeah, anything you want to know just ask." I said as the first
bell of the day rang.

I grabbed my bag and looked at Bradley who nodded back to me. He
grabbed my hand so he wouldn't get lost in the crowd and I led
him to our first class of the day and told the teacher he had to
sit by me. The teacher took his schedule and let him have the
seat in front of me so that he would be next to me. Bradley took
back his schedule and we went to sit down in our seats. I took
out a piece of paper and chose we would write notes so that we
wouldn't disturb the lecture, I wrote in blue and Bradley in red.

Hey, anything you want to
ask?

Plenty but I don't know where to
start.

Well ask away, I'll answer anything
you want

Don't say that, trust me.

It's true, you answered anything I
wanted to ask and now it's my turn to do the same

Well ok then, do you have a
boyfriend?

No, I have protectors at this school
and they won't let me date, they are overprotective when it comes
down to me and guys.

What are they protecting you
from?

From any harm that may be around and
well pretty much everything

Why are you here instead of at the
palace?

My family thinks it would be better
for me to get to know the subjects I will rule.

When do you return there?

When I have chosen a husband to help
me rule the land

Do you have any brothers or
sisters?

I have an older sister but she can't
take the thrown so I am the heir

Why can't she?

She was locked away when we were
kids for being too violent and dangerous

Oh yeah, I remember those rumors.
What do you like to do?

I love to read books and sing
sometimes I dance as well.

That's cool, sing for me sometime
please.

I barely got to read it as the bell rang. I put the note in my
book and looked at Bradley to see if he was ready to go to our
lockers. He stood up and looked me in the eyes and I simply
nodded as he took my hand in his and we walked out the door. He
took my books from me when we got to the lockers so that I could
put in my locker combination to put our books in my locker.

The locker quickly popped open and I took his books from him
along with my books he was holding for me. I put all the stuff in
my locker and slammed the door shut. I took him to the gym where
our next class would be. Our teacher, Mr. Rain, was waiting on
us. He took Bradley's schedule and put him on the attendance. We
went and stood in the middle of the gym floor waiting on the
instructions from Mr. Rain.

"Today we are going to be learning how to use self defense." his
voice carried through the gym.

I glanced over to Bradley to see how he was holding up on his
first day with the sight of everything. He seemed to be awestruck
at the size of our equipment. A giggle escaped my lips as his
eyes darted around. All the girls then swarmed around him and
asked him to be their partner and a twinge of jealousy started
form in the pit of my stomach; I don't know why I got jealous
because it's not like I really liked him or even knew him. My
eyes stayed glued on him as the girls pressed against him more
and I was astonished when he emerged from them and looked in my
direction with a half smile plastered on his face.

"Ladies, I'm sorry to tell you but I already have a partner.
Maybe some other time." he said as loud as he could manage.

Everyone began looking around for his partner to see who they
would have to kill. He got a big smile as he walked up to me and
put his arm through mine. A look of despair crossed my face as
every girl in the mob now looked at me and started to grumble.
They started to disperse and a few of them called me a whore as
they passed or a few said slut. I hated those names but at least
they didn't realize their mistake.

"You could have just got me killed." I mumbled to him.

"But I didn't get you killed; instead I got you a partner and
someone you can talk to." he whispered back.

I sighed and tried not to smile at him. It was time for us to
start our self defense lessons so we stood face to face. This was
one of Mr. Rain's ways of saying it was combat day. Mr. Rain sat
down and started to write down notes of who was doing what and
how well they were doing like he always does. Bradley looked a
little confused at what we were supposed to be doing so I
gestured to the rest of the room so he would look around.

"It's combat day, we fight each other and try to block the other.
Here I'll show you" I say and throw a slow punch in his
direction.

"So, I block you when you try to hit me and hit you back, right?"
he says as he blocks the punch.

"That's right." I say.

He threw a real punch at me and I ducked just before he made
contact with my nose. I popped back up and threw a punch at him
but I barely grazed his shoulder. He was extremely good at
blocking; every time I tried to hit or kick him he was able to
block me. It seemed none of his blocks could be penetrated. He
was stronger than I had given him credit for. He would have been
a good protector for me but he wasn't around when they were
chosen, I needed a good guy in my group. My parents had chosen
the wolf pack for reasons I didn't yet know.

The bell rang and we had started to leave the gym when all the
girls in the class surrounded Bradley and pushed me away from
him. The feeling of jealousy started to form in the pit of my
stomach again and I still didn't understand why. Bradley had
definitely picked up some groupies and they didn't want me to be
anywhere near him. They tried to grab onto him and they seemed to
have hearts for eyes. I barely heard Bradley trying to mumble his
way out of the crowd.

"Ok ladies leave me alone now; I have a class to get to."
Bradley's voice rose barely above the crowd.

All the girls made pouting faces at him and one even tried to
kiss him. I turned around and stalked off to the main building to
get the image out of my head. I didn't hear the footsteps behind
me untill someone grabbed my arm and spun me around. In front of
me stood one of the girls that had mobbed Bradley. She had fire
in her eyes and looked as if she could kill.

"You're not special enough for someone like him you know; it's
best you stay away from him because he would never like you as
more than a good time. Everyone knows how much of a slut you are
and he's more than likely not looking for anything from a whore
like you." she turned around and walked off with those words
being said.

I turned back around and ran off down the hall way with tears in
my eyes. The words had hurt bad and I just wanted to escape but I
couldn't leave school this early in the morning. I found a corner
and hunkered down in it hoping no one would notice me but that's
when Ethan walked by and fixed his deep red eyes on me. It was
the first time I had let him see me really cry because I couldn't
stop it.

"What happened?" he couldn't hide his concern for me.

"A girl... It's a long story." I managed to sputter out.

He picked me up and walked me to the class I shared with him;
where I found Bradley already sitting in the seat in front of my
assigned seat. My chair was occupied by a girl that was in the
mob and he seemed pretty happy just talking to her and flirting.
Bradley never even noticed that I had walked in and apparently
didn't realize the girl was in my seat. I looked to Mr. Barnes
who nodded at me knowing I wasn't tardy.

"Get out of my seat." I said as I walked up to my desk.

"Get in your own assigned seat, Ms. Bradstone." Mr. Barnes cut in
when she gave me a death glare.

She got up and went across the room as I sat down and took out my
notebook for the class. History had always been an easy class for
me but now I dreaded the long hour, I dreaded the rest of the day
even; this was only the third hour we still had the free hour
where I would have to see him with all the other girls. Lucky me
he kept his back to me the whole class.

When the bell rang Sarah Bradstone came back up and latched on to
Bradley's arm and drug him out of the classroom. I followed
silently and as soon as I got out the door of the room I ran into
Andy. His long red hair fell into his face as he turned his head
to look at me. Ethan must have said that something had gone wrong
in their absence.

"Ethan told didn't he?" I asked to confirm my fears.

"No, we were tuned into his mind when you told him that a girl
was the reason you were crying." he kept his eyes on my face.

I looked down at the ground and kept walking to my next class
with Andy; magic and the elements wasn't always my favorite but
it meant one more hour until the free hour. During our free hour
I would hang out with the boys and let my worries go for a day.
Bradley was yet again placed in front of me and he smiled at me
as I sat down. I smiled back to be friendly and then looked at my
desk. Tears were still collecting in my eyes and trying to escape
down my cheeks.

Ms. Rose came in and sat at the front of the room then looked
over the class at everyone with her signature smile. She was the
most experienced with magic and the elements and she seemed more
relaxed when messing with both. She set a bowl of water on her
desk next to her candle and incense and a pretty good sized rock.
I had the feeling that today we were going to try to find the
element we were most comfortable with and work with it, my being
a princess allowed me to be able to be comfortable with all the
elements and use them all as easily as the next. A feeling of
dread rushed over me as I realized I would have to choose my own
element today.

"How will we know our element?" a girl asked and I recognized her
as one of the girls from the mob of groupies.

"You will just know I can't explain how but you will know trust
me." Ms. Rose replied.

Ms. Rose called the girl up to the front of the room and the girl
stared at all of the elements like they would jump out and kill
her. Ms. Rose eased her forward with comforting words reminding
her not to be scared or something bad could happen to relax. The
girl held her hand over the water but nothing happened and then
she moved to the candle and all of a sudden the flame leaped all
the way to her hand as the girl screamed and her hair caught
fire. The class broke out with panic until someone dumped the
bowl of water over her head extinguishing the flame. Ms. Rose
told the rest of us to wait in class that she needed to take the
girl to the nurse.

All the students sat back down in their seats and just stared at
the front of the room where only seconds before a classmate was
on fire. All of a sudden the entire class burst into whispers.
Everyone had something to say about how she could have prevented
her element from getting out of control. Bradley turned and
looked at me; the fear was obvious in his eyes.

"That was a little scary." He said and looked down at the desk.

All I did was nod a little bit and lean back in my seat. Andy was
sitting behind me and he put his hand on my shoulder. A smile
crossed my face and I turned around to face him. His red hair was
covering up his face the way I liked; it made him look mysterious
more than anything. I leaned across his desk to look in his eyes
and see if I could tell what he was thinking but as always his
eyes told nothing.

"What's wrong with you?" the words hit me like a brick.

"What do you mean?" I asked him and looked down.

"I mean something's wrong and you're not telling anyone what it
is so we can help." He whispered back harshly.

"Andy, I'm fine really." I whispered toward the desk.

Andy's hand came up and he gently made me look up at him. His red
eyes locked me in place and I felt like a deer trapped in the
headlight of a car. He stared down into my eyes with an
expression of deep concentration on his face. I knew
automatically he was trying to figure out what was wrong and
catch me in my lies. His eyes looked away from me and towards
Bradley then back at me.

"No you're not, is it because of the new kid?" He stared at me.

I looked down and stared at his desk; he always figured me out
and there was no hiding it from him once he did. Every problem I
had ever had he always just knew what was wrong with me and he
always tried to fix it. Bradley was my biggest problem because I
didn't know how to deal with him or my feelings. Andy knew my
problem and I wasn't sure he would be able to fix this one like
he had done so easily before.

"Do I need to tell Anthony we have a little problem here?" his
voice was low and venomous.

"No, there is no problem. It's just nothing I swear." I
whispered.

"Don't lie to me; what's going on?" He asked.

"The girls in his stupid fan club; they're picking on me." I
said.

"We can take care of that." His voice was harsh.

"No; I'll be fine, really." My voice cracked.

He reached out and grabbed my hand tightly; his touch was a
reassurance to me. Andy was like a walking talking diary in some
ways, he kept all my deepest darkest secrets. He was always my
protection from the bad things in life. I loved that about him.
He was my very salvation.

I felt a pair of eyes on me and glanced over my shoulder at
Bradley. He was glancing back and forth between me, Andy, and a
girl on the other side of the room. I followed his glance to her
and automatically knew she was in his fan club even though I
didn't know her personally. The way her cream colored eyes were
boring into me told me she hated me even though we probably never
spoke before. She probably followed the rumors and all the other
girls in Bradley's fan club here.

Andy moved his free hand to my hand to my hair and started
petting my hair in a comforting way. My eyes slowly came back to
rest on him and a small smile krept over my face. I rested my
head in his hand and finally relaxed knowing I was safe no matter
what. The talk about the elements and the control over the
elements was still buzzing around the room so I turned to face
the front again. Just as I got settled in Ms. Rose walked through
the door.

"Class, you must relax when finding your element and you must
know you can control it and have power over it. Please, do not be
scared of your elements when you find them." she glanced around
the room.

She called up all of the other students to find their elements
one by one and then everyone but me had been up at the front of
the room by the time the bell rang. I caught her eye on the way
out of the class and gave her a small nod and a smile as my
thanks for not calling me up to the front and letting it take all
class. As I walked out the door I bumped into Ethan and Anthony
steadied me as Andy was looking around the halls. It was the free
hour and they were all there to walk me to our usual table in the
courtyard.